Fox’s ‘Idol’ Rises in Nationals to Match Last Week in Demo

CBS' 'Survivor' is adjusted up too (to a season high) on a repeat-heavy Wednesday

UPDATE:Nielsen’s updated national averages for Wednesday night showed a nice uptick for “American Idol,” as it went from a 3.6 rating to a 3.8. As a result, it matched the prior week’s result despite the start of Daylight Saving Time. “Idol” was up vs. last week in total viewers.

Also rising in the nationals, to a season-high, was CBS’ “Survivor” (from a 2.5 to a 2.7 in 18-49).

Fox’s “American Idol” was the standout ratings performer on Wednesday night, though it could not shake its downward trend despite facing mostly repeats on the competition. A falloff this week isn’t that surprising since the start of Daylight Saving Time typically produces lower ratings for most series, but Fox will certainly be happy when its top show can stop the bleeding.

According to preliminary national estimates from Nielsen, “American Idol” averaged a 3.6 rating/11 share in adults 18-49 and 13.1 million viewers overall from 8 to 10 p.m. peaking with a 3.9 demo rating from 9 to 9:30. It easily won all four half-hours, but was down 5% (0.2) week to week — its sixth consecutive falloff after logging a 5.5 demo rating in late January. “Idol” was down about 30% in the demo from the comparable night a year ago (opposite an original “Modern Family” that night too) when the show topped 18 million total viewers.

It was pretty quiet elsewhere, with second-place CBS paced by “Survivor” (2.5/8 in 18-49, 9.5 million viewers overall), which was in line with last week and was the night’s No. 2 broadcast program in most categories. The reality veteran was followed by encores of dramas “Criminal Minds” (1.8/5 in 18-49, 7.3 million viewers overall) and “CSI” (1.7/5 in 18-49, 7.8 million viewers overall).

ABC was all repeats with the exception of “The Neighbors” at 8:30 p.m. (1.4/4 in 18-49, 4.7 million viewers overall), which built slightly upon its repeat “The Middle” lead-in (1.3/4 in 18-49, 4.7 million viewers overall) but was down from last week. The 9 p.m. “Modern Family” encore was ABC’s top program of the night (1.8/5 in 18-49, 5.1 million viewers overall) and was followed by “Suburgatory” (1.3/4 in 18-49, 3.6 million viewers overall) and “Nashville” (0.7/2 in 18-49, 2.8 million viewers overall).

NBC aired an original “Whitney” (1.2/4 in 18-49, 3.4 million viewers overall), a repeat “Whitney” (0.8/3 in 18-49, 2.5 million viewers overall) and then repeats of “Law & Order: SVU” (1.2/3 in 18-49, 4.6 million viewers overall) and “Chicago Fire” (1.1/3 in 18-49, 3.8 million viewers overall), with both of the dramas up from their repeats last week.